These are the Comeback Kids! They are creating memories of a lifetime – seemingly on a daily basis. Here’s how crazy it’s been: my 18-year-old son called me from college to revel in the excitement. Not a text. A phone call. Amazing!
Sept. 30, 2024
The Mets faced elimination from the playoffs unless they beat the Braves in Atlanta. In one of the best regular season games ever, they got behind 3-0. Then they stormed back in the eighth. They scored six to take the lead. Then the Braves pulled ahead with four of their own. It seemed that our worst fears would be realized. But not so. Francisco Lindor, battling back pain for the last several weeks, came to the plate and drove a pitch over the right center field wall. Our non-MVP came up as big as you possibly could and he put the Mets in the playoffs. The win-probability chart looked like a ride at Six Flags.
There’s absolutely no reason you should, but if you were to look through this author’s articles over the past seven months, you would see the prediction of close, but no cigar. Never happier to be wrong. Also, Carlos Mendoza deserves Manager of the Year. He kept it together when it seemed impossible to dream.
Oct. 1, 2024
Classic playoff baseball. Every time the Brewers pulled ahead, the Mets had an answer. Mark Vientos is making a run for the ages in these playoffs – and the hustle and heads up play by his Mets teammates made them 8-4 winners. It’s great to see so many homegrown Mets be contributors in these games.
Oct. 3, 2024
Pete Alonso’s 3-run HR in the 9th against the Brewers to clinch the Wild Card series. How many times did you watch the replay? The IG post that uses the Moneyball music mixed in with Howie Rose’s call is going to live on for years. Incredibly, it was the first time any player had hit a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later of a winner-take-all game. Crazy.
Alonso’s HR ranks up there with Todd Pratt and Benny Agbayani for late-inning heroics. Alonso’s is better. The Mets won the series because of his HR and because it might be his last season in Queens.
No home run will ever best Mike Piazza’s after 9/11.
Oct. 5, 2024
Five runs in the eighth inning. They just kept the line moving. More Vientos heroics. More Brandon Nimmo.
We had a real shot at Sunday’s game – but the baseball Gods giveth and they taketh away. Now the stage shifts to Citi Field where the Mets faithful – who have waited so long to root for a team like this – will be in an absolute frenzy. Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!
The Case for Lindor as MVP
In 1988, the best player in the National League was Darryl Strawberry – by a lot. He lost out to Kirk Gibson for National League MVP for two reasons: first, Strawberry (by this time in his career) had developed into such an arrogant player that the sportswriters were looking for an excuse to snub him. Second, there was a significant emphasis on the words “most valuable” and it was surely the case that without Gibson, there was no way the Dodgers were making the playoffs that year.
Lindor has had such a great season and, just like Gibson, the Mets wouldn’t have finished in 3rd place without him. Nevertheless, sportswriters take a very different view in today’s game. There’s simply no way the sport’s first 50/50 player loses out on the MVP.
It is unbelievably annoying trying to find the games on television. And when it can be located, there is a marked drop in the booth from Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling. I get why they don’t do it, but it would be great to hear them doing these games. Tuning into the post-game show at least gives us Cohen for a time.
Where will the rest of the season go? It’s been such a fantasy ride from the nadir of late May, there’s every reason to believe that the Mets can pull this whole thing off. No matter what happens, it’s been a season for the ages.
Any doubts as to the baseball acumen of David Stearns should be erased in the minds of every fan. He put together a team that few thought would compete – much less make a run in the playoffs. There will be plenty of time to delve into off-season maneuvers, but this much can be said: he has single-handedly made the Mets a destination for free agents.
Thanks Dennis – I loved reading this! Those 3 games are truly among some of the best in team history and I have to remember this post to read it again during the offseason. Hopefully you need to add a couple more great games to this.
To your last point, I hope you are right about free agents (I believe you are) and I hope that the team can build with its young homegrown players and supplement with free agents. It seems like that’s where they are going with the way they held on to their top pieces at the deadline.